NOVPUBWith the fire giant completely gone, the incident wrapped up quickly.
The wounded were treated, and those unharmed were all sent home.
Outside, the scene was chaotic, filled with curious citizens trying to see what had happened.
There was no hiding it now.
Rumors of a fire giant appearing at the banquet had already spread like wildfire. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
Reporters swarmed in, desperate for answers, only to be held back by the police acting as a living barrier.
“Are all the students safe?”
“Ah, Professor Ludger.”
Near a makeshift triage station set up for the injured.
Selina and Merilda, who had been waiting nearby, brightened as they saw Ludger approaching.
“Professor Ludger! You’re safe, after all!”
“Yes. Are you both alright?”
Merilda waved her hand lightly.
“We’re fine. We were just helping the students and guests evacuate.”
“I see. And where are the students now?”
“They’ve all gone home. That was a close one. Imagine coming here just for a part-time job and getting caught in something like this. Still, we’re lucky no students were hurt. Why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing. I was just wondering if they got home safely.”
If he started pressing about Joanna Lovett’s whereabouts now, it’d only draw unwanted suspicion.
Ludger offered a natural excuse instead.
Merilda gave him a soft smile, surprised by his response.
“You’re really something, Professor Ludger. When I first met you, you looked like someone who wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed. But here you are, worrying about the students. Didn’t think you had such a soft side.”
“I get that a lot.”
Ludger replied offhandedly, eyes scanning the area.
The injured were being taken to hospitals, while those left behind were busy cleaning up the scene.
Some people were talking with the police, explaining the events in detail.
This incident had officially been classified as a terrorist attack, with 12 dead and around 80 injured.
And considering most of the casualties were high-ranking figures in society, the impact was even greater.
If Esmeralda was behind this, then she’s half succeeded.
She’d used the Headmaster’s absence to summon a highest-tier fire spirit with a summoning medium.
Her goal had been to kill everyone there with that spirit.
Fortunately, the guards and mages had fought hard enough to keep the death toll from skyrocketing.
Still, just because it wasn’t worse didn’t mean it wasn’t bad.
Even if the summoning was incomplete, this had been like unleashing a 6th-circle mage.
The shock this event left behind was immeasurable.
No matter how much security you have, no matter how cautious you are—terror can still happen. That truth had now been seared into everyone’s minds.
“Professor Ludger?”
A voice called out to him just then.
The first thing he noticed was a pair of pointed ears.
It was Vierno Dentis, one of the last people to stand against the fire giant.
The elf instructor who had fought alongside Angela before Ludger joined the battle.
“Yes. What is it?”
“Could we speak for a moment?”
“I suppose...”
As Ludger trailed off, Merilda—quick to read the room—grabbed Selina’s arm and led her away.
“M-Merilda?”
“Oh-hoho. Let’s head over there, Selina.”
Once they were alone, Vierno gave Ludger a respectful nod.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to end this before there were more casualties.”
“I just did what had to be done.”
That was his answer, but Ludger found himself reassessing this elf instructor.
His first impression had been that Vierno was soft, maybe a bit lazy.
But when the fight started, he’d been the one to step up the most against the highest-tier fire spirit.
In fact, as the 4th-year instructor, he seemed far more skilled in spirit handling than Angela, who taught the 5th-years.
Normally, the higher the grade, the more skilled the instructor.
He even took command. Based on skill alone, he’s above Angela Anderson. Maybe he’s teaching 4th-years by choice, avoiding the higher position.
And being an elf—he was likely much older than he looked.
If he had both the age and the skill but wasn’t teaching the top students, it was probably because he didn’t want to.
“So, did you come all this way just to thank me personally?”
“That, and... I had something I was curious about.”
“What is it?”
“You know just how strong that fire spirit was, right? You fought it yourself.”
Ludger nodded.
You didn’t have to fight a highest-tier fire spirit to know its power.
Even though ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) its lower body hadn’t fully manifested—thanks to the medium being unable to handle it—the thing was still twisted and warped in form, yet terrifyingly strong.
“How did you do it?”
The sudden question made Ludger raise an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“You knew the spirit was summoned using a medium, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Though, I didn’t know right away.”
Ludger explained how he realized the fire spirit had been summoned through a medium.
“The lower half didn’t form properly, huh.”
“It probably couldn’t manifest fully because of how strong it was. The medium couldn’t handle it. I just happened to notice.”
“I thought so. Still, impressive. Even if it was chance, you figured out its weakness right away.”
“Anyone else in that position would’ve realized it. It’s not like I’m special.”
“No. If it had been me, I wouldn’t have caught on so fast.”
Vierno gave a bitter smile, as if he was reflecting on his own shortcomings.
“I’m well-versed in spiritology... maybe that’s why I missed it even more. This was just so far out of anything I’d expect.”
Ludger didn’t bother to blame him.
After all, spirit tamers rarely, if ever, summon spirits through a medium.
Spirits are beings of nature. Contracting with them and summoning them is an act of harmony—of mana linking the natural world with the will of the summoner.
But mediums? Those are artificial. Forced.
Spirits hate that.
Especially higher-ranked ones. Their pride makes them outright reject such means.
Spirits and tamers are equals, not master and servant. Forcing them through a medium is unthinkable.
“I took that fact for granted, so I overlooked it. I never thought anyone would summon a highest-tier spirit with a medium. But... I guess it was possible.”
“Maybe the one behind this really was just that powerful.”
“True, but I think the spirit itself wasn’t normal either.”
Different from normal spirits.
Ludger couldn’t agree more.
The fact that it spoke like a human was shocking enough—but what it said?
That was something else entirely.
“A spirit that hates humans... I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Spirits don’t normally feel that way?”
“No. As you know, spirits are the embodiment of nature itself. And nature... well, nature is the foundation of everything.”
“I know.”
“Spirits act in line with nature’s will. And the mother of nature holds no thoughts—no judgments—toward what exists within her.”
Ludger suddenly recalled a teaching from his past life.
—Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs.
A passage from Laozi’s The Way and Its Power.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
People often hope the heavens have some will, that they'll intervene somehow—but reality isn’t like that.
All living things are just grass or dogs, existing, mixed in with nature.
And even if something goes wrong, even if something terrible happens, nature doesn’t suddenly become a terrifying, vengeful force.
When typhoons rage, when floods sweep through, when droughts wither the land—
Even if countless lives are lost because of it.
It’s simply the world doing what it does, not some deliberate, malicious act.
Nature is just nature. And spirits are the same.
But the fire spirit that appeared this time wasn’t like that.
There was undeniable hatred.
Ludger had felt it, clear as day—the spirit hated humans.
“I never imagined a spirit like that could exist. One that loathes humans, that doesn’t care about being bound by a summoning medium. And someone contracting with a highest-tier spirit like that, controlling it...”
“...This is serious.”
“That’s why it took me longer to grasp the situation. But you, Professor Ludger, you stayed calm through it all. Especially with that magic you used at the end.”
Vierno had already figured out what Ludger had done.
“That was spatial magic, wasn’t it? Jumping across space?”
“...”
“No need to get all defensive. I’m an elf—I’ve lived long enough to see things. So I’m right, aren’t I?”
“You are. It’s called Coordinate Designation Magic. Fix the mana to a certain point in space and trigger the spell there.”
“Fixing coordinates in space... that’s even possible?”
“It’s hard at first, but it gets easier with practice.”
“...”
Vierno didn’t believe him—not entirely.
Someone else might take Ludger’s words at face value. But Vierno was an elf.
Even if he looked like a boy in his mid-teens, he’d lived well over a century.
His focus might have been on spiritology, but when it came to magic, he wasn’t behind anyone.
And that’s why he knew.
The coordinate magic Ludger had used—there was no way it was “normal.”
You can’t just do something like that easily.
To perceive the world entirely as a grid of coordinates, and to fix a spell within that grid—
That was no simple feat.
If anyone could do it, they had to fall into one of two categories.
Either they were born with an insanely strong, innate sense of spatial awareness—
Or their brain’s limiter had been completely unlocked.
Most people would assume the former.
But Vierno couldn’t shake the feeling that Ludger might be the latter.
Could anyone, no matter how smart, calmly designate spatial coordinates under that kind of pressure?
Not to mention—he invented that bizarre source code magic, too.
Vierno hesitated, then asked, slightly concerned:
“Are you alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you use magic. Or... when your condition feels off.”
Ludger was about to ask what he meant, but noticed how serious Vierno looked.
“This might just be an old man’s rambling, or maybe I’m overthinking it, but please hear me out. I heard something a long time ago, back when I was still considered young among humans.”
“What did you hear?”
“That sometimes, there are people whose thoughts expand beyond what’s normal.”
Vierno took a breath before continuing.
“They’re often called geniuses. But they’re a bit different from the usual kind. Normal geniuses—those people break through limits in specific areas. They excel within certain boundaries, smashing through walls in front of them. But these other people? They’re different.”
“How so?”
“They have no walls.”
“...”
Ludger was silent for a moment before he answered.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Having no walls means having no limits. It might seem like a blessing—but it’s not. People don’t realize that the walls we think are holding us back are actually protecting us. They're a barrier shielding us from what's outside.”
As soon as he said outside—
Ludger clenched his fist without thinking.
But Vierno didn’t notice.
Lost in his own thoughts, his eyes sparkled faintly with clarity as he asked Ludger:
“Just in case... Do you ever hear strange sounds? Voices, maybe?”
